Shubert+Survey


 * Survey About Literature: Outside People**

One of my courses requires a mini survey. Feel free to ask others (and yourself) these same questions.

Here are some interesting responses I received. (I did not in any way influence these; they were left wide open).


 * Mini-Survey Questions**

1. What book did you read as an adolescent that had a strong impact on how you viewed the world or how you viewed yourself? 2. Was the book written for young adolescents, for adults, or was it a classic? 3. Did you read the book in school or out of school? 4. How did you find the book (e.g., recommended by a friend, librarian, required reading)? 5. In what ways did the book deal with physical, emotional, moral, social, or intellectual issues or themes? 6. For you, what was the value of the book?

//My Best Friend from College (Prospect Researcher for an Arts & Science Council)// 1. The Jungle 2. Classic 3. In school 4. Teacher 5. The book taught me about social classes and social structure...and of course, the meat packing industry. 6. I valued the book because it explored society and family and in a way how those two institutions intertwine. It also made me so glad that I didn't grow up in that time period.

//My sister (math teacher in Pennsylvania)// 1. Beloved by Toni Morrison. I just remember it giving me a more real look at discrimination. It wasn't just the numbers and the history facts any more. It was how someone was really impacted (even though I know it was ficti). on 2. Adult 3. Out but for an English paper 4. HS English teacher recommended 5. Discrimination both as an african american and a female 6. It was just a book that still comes to mind. I can't remember all the details but I remember reading it and it being one of those books you keep thinking about even when you put it down in terms of the world then and now.

//My sister's friend in Pennsylvania// 1. What book did you read as an adolescent that had a strong impact on how you viewed the world or how you viewed yourself? A Farewell to Arms

2. Was the book written for young adolescents, for adults, or was it a classic? Adults, Classic

3. Did you read the book in school or out of school? Out of school. I picked it up on my own. A life-long jock as a kid (who rarely did his homework) I went to a bookstore in the Springfield Mall and decided that I wanted to start reading classics. I have no idea why, but I just decided it that day.

4. How did you find the book (e.g., recommended by a friend, librarian, required reading)? Browsing the bookstore. I "knew" the title. I "knew" that Hemingway was someone famous...

5. In what ways did the book deal with physical, emotional, moral, social, or intellectual issues or themes? I think I thought or felt it was so brutally raw emotionally...and it just shook me emotionally. As an adolescent I suppose I always thought that love always works out (even though I was raised by a single mom); war was just something that 'happened' to the boogiemen of the world-and not to real people who had dreams and who felt pain...but I also remember feeling like I was allowed a "peek" at the adult world...all the drink, the men and women meeting/flirting/attraction/heart-ache/passion/mourning and death...and on and on...as a kid, you know, you end up so protected at times by well-meaning families, and then you come across something that stirs your brain and heart and guts at the same time and there is no one there to hold your hand through it. I am so happy that I picked up that novel at that time. It was the punch in the gut and jaw I needed as a self-absorbed jock kid. It didn't give me any answers, and I liked that. But boy did it shake me up. And I liked that. There was a world out there...

6. For you, what was the value of the book? I'm not certain how to answer this question, but I'll start by saying that it was the first book to move me to tears. I had such a visceral reaction to the book that I couldn't stop reading it and was completely and emotionally exhausted at the end, but I was also very disappointed at the end. It was summer and I felt like I needed to talk to someone about the book, and I didn't. I kept it bottled inside of me, but it made me reflect on literature in a way I never did before. Previously, I used to regard books in school like furniture in the house...they just sort of came with the place. It made me start to consider what I wanted to be, or who I could be. As I sit here and think about it, I think it jump-started my maturation process - it began to move me from being a boy/adolescent towards becoming something, someone, greater. I've since become an English teacher and can't read enough and write short stories of my own as a private hobby. I enter writing contests just for the fun of it, but now as I answer your question I think there is a part of me that writes stories because I keep digging for that feeling I had when I read "A Farewell to Arms." I know I wont ever find that feeling again, but it is great digging for it.

//My cousin who just got back from the peace corps in Thailand// 1. What book did you read as an adolescent that had a strong impact on how you viewed the world or how you viewed yourself? The Lord of the Rings trilogy- It got me hooked on history and mythology

2. Was the book written for young adolescents, for adults, or was it a classic? I guess it is a classic

3. Did you read the book in school or out of school? out of school

4. How did you find the book (e.g., recommended by a friend, librarian, required reading)? I had the hobbit read to me as a 6 year old and wanted to read it when I could

5. In what ways did the book deal with physical, emotional, moral, social, or intellectual issues or themes? most themes were dealt with in epic an story telling way.

6. For you, what was the value of the book? it helped to make me a lifelong reader and heavily influenced the direction of my interests